although aye don't always agree with stan...he makes astute observations in this article...if u want to get ahead best spell you out for yourself, biatch...dropping the skin color front and education is the key.

When Jesse Jackson was running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, the civil rights movement veteran said to his integrated gatherings on the campaign trail that, if elected, he could not legislate against poor performance in school or irresponsible sexual behavior. At the time, that was seen as a sober look at some problems that still bedevil black America.

That might shock the pants off those who recall how much controversy Jackson recently engendered when caught on mike angrily saying that Barack Obama was talking down to black people in a Father's Day speech that was largely directed at those black men willing to have the singularly intense human fun of making babies but unwilling to care for them once they arrive in this world. How now, brown cow?

Jackson expressed the opinion of far, far more black Americans when he had implied the thing that Obama said directly, calling for those errant black fathers to stop being boys and start behaving like men by assuming the job of parent.

Now it seems that a form of ethnic confusion for which Jackson is largely responsible could have an ironically positive influence on another ongoing problem: the self-destructive, lower-class idea that black kids who do well in school, speak English correctly and do not exhibit the anarchic behavior and stupidity so common in the most popular hip hop are, somehow, "trying to be white."

That is a childish idea that the black lower class needs to put away as soon as possible because, as yet another new study of black Americans shows, the overwhelming majority of that so-called minority group believes that education is one of the best ways to ensure one's chances of success. I would add that that is especially true in an increasingly technological world in which backward achievements such as illiteracy are not valued.

Jackson's insistence that black Americans should be called African-Americans to give them specific connection to a continent and to some sort of pride was often defended by those pointing to the term Italian-American which, unlike what Jackson proposed, referred to a specific place and culture on which variations were made in Italy. That is why, in private, Africans have often laughed at black Americans for believing that the endlessly complicated African continent is no more than a "United States of Africa."

Complexity, of course, has never held much sway in ethnic or identity politics, which can most easily be explained in terms of three words: "us and them." That is always a distortion of true American history because any group with an irrefutable gripe has always progressed most through coalitions, which is how things work in the United States.

An ongoing study at Princeton reveals that 40% of black students at Ivy League universities are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Uh-oh, but maybe not uh-oh. That these students do not see high-quality performance in school and sophisticated behavior as proof of a lack of ethnic pride or self-hatred or being overwhelmed by "white standards" could be very beneficial in ways nothing else has yet been.

While black Americans know little about African religions, history, politics or anything else, they are learning something very important right now. Employers are said to prefer actual African-Americans - black immigrants - because, right or wrong, they assume two things about black people from outside the United States: that they deeply believe in education and the competence that comes with it.

If this country is absolutely lucky, the black lower class will begin to learn with ever greater quickness what black immigrants and everybody else in the world already knows: Quality skills, quality performance and quality products have three obvious things in common. They trump color and national origin in this global economy and will only continue to do so

Ok, he did have some good points. Didn't like his 'African American' jab to be honest. But apart from that, he has some good points.

please ...no jab...truth perhaps...

so you "didn't like" or felt shame?

his jabs shame people...maybe they'll...

rise up...bless themselves...not undress themself.

and it is not a jab at african americans...it is a certain mentality that he finds troubling.

Why should I feel shame? I'm African. If anything I should be patting myself on the back. But even when it makes me look good, ignorance is inexcusable. I have no problems with the analysis, it's the jab against the term African American that I dont' like. African American is the term African American people have now accepted and identify with and I hate the arrogance of some high falutin commentators who think their role is to denigrate it at any turn. They give ammunition to the 'racism is made up by minorities' conservatives and gives minorities another thing to be defensive about.

Ok, he did have some good points. Didn't like his 'African American' jab to be honest. But apart from that, he has some good points.

please ...no jab...truth perhaps...

so you "didn't like" or felt shame?

his jabs shame people...maybe they'll...

rise up...bless themselves...not undress themself.

and it is not a jab at african americans...it is a certain mentality that he finds troubling.

Why should I feel shame? I'm African. If anything I should be patting myself on the back. But even when it makes me look good, ignorance is inexcusable. I have no problems with the analysis, it's the jab against the term African American that I dont' like. African American is the term African American people have now accepted and identify with and I hate the arrogance of some high falutin commentators who think their role is to denigrate it at any turn. They give ammunition to the 'racism is made up by minorities' conservatives and gives minorities another thing to be defensive about.

If he doesn't like it, he should just shut the hell up.

he is not denigrating the term, "african american"...

---the self-destructive, lower-class idea that black kids who do well in school, speak English correctly and do not exhibit the anarchic behavior and stupidity so common in the most popular hip hop are, somehow, "trying to be white." ---

...that is a jab to you???

against african american's? aye think that is a statement exposing a misguided mentality.